A Month of Grace: Renewal and New Beginnings for SMM Vocations

Published by Bro. Lord Ansel Glenn Bongcas, SMM in Delegation · Friday 01 Aug 2025 · 2:45
Tags: NU, DEL, 0006

Quezon City, Philippines - The Montfort Missionaries in the Philippines opened the month of August with a series of liturgical celebrations that carried both the meaning of continuity and fresh beginnings for their communities. The two-day delegation gathering was held at the Delegation Chapel in New Manila and at the Montfort Center of Spirituality at Scout Madriñan. It was a gathering both for prayer and for the reaffirming of commitments in religious life. The scholastics renewed their religious vows, the pre-postulants had their Holy Spirit Mass, and a new postulant was also welcomed into religious life.

On August 1, 2025, at 7:00 AM, the scholastics renewed their religious vows at the Delegation Chapel in the presence of family, friends, and fellow missionaries who are perpetually professed and are in ongoing formation. Rev. Fr. Federick B, Yumang, SMM, Delegation Superior, presided over the rite for renewal of vows and reminded the young scholastics, as well as the faithful to look back on the goodness of God as the ground for fidelity. He also reminded the community that their way of life, shaped by the Ratio Promotionis No. 2, requires vigilance and authenticity.

In the evening of that same day, the pre-postulancy community held a Holy Spirit Mass at the Montfort Center of Spirituality, presided by Fr. Federick Yumang, SMM, and was concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Sherwin Y. Nuñez, SMM. Fr. Sherwin gave a homily that directly confronted the temptations of "power, prestige, pleasure, and money," challenges placed before those discerning a vocation in a Church and society often shaped by such forces.

The following morning, August 2, the Delegation Chapel hosted the Rite of Acceptance into the postulancy program for Bro, John Lloyd Batchinicha, of Talisayan, Misamis Oriental. Fr. Federick Yumang, SMM also presided over the liturgy once again, affirmed the nature of postulancy as a period of ‘testing the waters’ and new learnings that one follows after the example of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's radical witnessing. Bro John will be accompanied by Rev. Fr. Lester Bonete, SMM, the current Postulant Director.

For the community, welcoming a new postulant is a sign of hope that vocations remain alive. It sends the message of a widened church and stands as a reminder that such beginnings require more than the ceremonies that take place, but a call for perseverance, honesty, and a life that can withstand scrutiny. August, coined as a "month of grace", marks not only moments of renewal but also moments of responsibility. The ceremonies become more meaningful only with authentic witnessing of such august spirituality; transformation in gentle benevolence in an ever-changing world where increasing doubts may cross the permanence of commitments; and above all, doing all things for the glory of God alone!

-Bro. Lord Ansel Glenn N. Bongcas, SMM